Each week we feature an advertiser from the Crafty Bastards Classifieds. This week the honor goes to:

Cleo Dee!

Craftiest Bastard of the Week

Cleo Dee is a purveyor of precious squids and other handmade items of considerable rarity. She assembles the plushies herself at Cleo Dee headquarters in Pittsburgh, where her artist husband and 16 pound cat also reside. Cleo’s creations consist of a one-woman production line of squids, and any creative time left over is devoted to embroidery and sewing grocery totes.

Visit Cleo Dee’s Etsy Shop for all kinds of squids holding all kinds of perfectly ridiculous things in their tentacles!

Crafty Classifieds for goodies like this and more!

Make stuff? Place a Crafty Bastards ad, it’s FREE!

Keep up with Crafty’s every move with our new Twitter account! Nothing better than random one liners delivered directly to you.

http://twitter.com/craftybastards

Oh! In case you don’t know about Twitter. I wikipediaed it for you:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application.

Awesome? Useless? I say awesome. It is kinda like Myspace simplified, you know without the ads for Comedy Central and friend requests from strippers.

That said, you can also friend us on good old Myspace, here, if you are in the mood for stripper dodging.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at http://www.ilikeseamonsters.com. She, too, has a twitter account. She makes stuff because she is no good at sports or drinking.

Last year, we didn’t get to post all the Q&As of vendors who participated in the 2007 Crafty Bastards fair, so here they are now!

As we enter Kim’s World of Art, we are greeted by a true renaissance woman of the arts. Kim has singlehandedly created her own self-sufficient realm of jewelry making, doll rehabilitation, clothes designing, photography, sculpting and more recently magnet making! (Though perhaps most awe-inspiring is her talent for manipulating clay polymer into delicate fairy wings for her dolls - see pictures below.)

Always on the prowl for creative uses of throwaway items, Kim took a moment to share bits of her world of refurbished fairies and designer doll clothes.

1. How long have you been making things?

My earliest memory was when I was given a simple embroidery kit when I was six or seven. I had to do some relatively simple stitches on a pillowcase.

2. What is your earliest/favorite crafting memory?

There was a time when I made this tiny chalky pelican statue (which came from this kit where you mixed sand-like goop, put it in a mold for a while, then remove it from the mold while it was still wet and you had to wait until it dried and it shrunk to half its size when it was wet) as a present for my mother.

3. Why do you make things?

Because I find it fun and relaxing and I somehow have this innate desire to create. If I don’t do anything creative for a few weeks I start to feel out of sorts. Once I go back to doing something creative, I get a sort of peace of mind.

4. What sort of things do you make?

I originally started out making polymer clay jewelry, which I discovered I had the knack for when I took a polymer clay class at a local community center.

I have discovered this specialty by accident where I go to thrift stores, purchase used naked Barbie dolls in the most dissheveled state, and re-make them into fairy dolls. I originally purchased Barbie dresses cheaply from discount stores (like Target and K-B Toys) and glued fairy wings made out of polymer clay on the back. I did it on a lark and tried selling them at the 2006 Greenbelt Green Man Festival and they were a surprise hit. Last year I came across a book on how to make Barbie dresses from scratch in 30 minutes without using patterns while using a variety of materials (like socks, ties, felt, and feathers) and a hot glue gun and I’ve been making the dresses from scratch ever since.

I’ve also been interested in photography for many years and I would take photos of each Barbie fairy doll I rehabilitated. I went to a knitting workshop sponsored by Crafty Bastards earlier this year and I showed a few photos on my iPod to other people and they were blown away that some of them advised me to sell photos. So I made a few postcards from the photos.

I also decided to branch out into photo-magnets when I discovered that the local Michael’s Arts & Crafts near my home had a sale on 2.25″ x 3.25″ photo frame magnets for 69 cents each. (The regular price is $1, which is still pretty cheap.) So I’m going to sell 20 magnets–10 of them will be the Barbie fairy dolls and 10 will be other photos of mostly plants and animals (which I took at the National Zoo, Clark’s Ellioak Farm in Ellicott City, and the Botanical Gardens in Tempe, Arizona).

I’ve recently re-discovered something from my childhood–Shrinky Dinks, the pieces of plastic where you draw on the surface, cut it out into whatever shape you want, bake it in the oven for three minutes, and it’ll shrink to 1/3 of its size. I came across special Shrinky Dinks for ink-jet printers and I’ve been printing some of my digital photos on them in order to convert into jewelry. I’ve sold a few of them at a local craft show last month at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland and I hope to sell some more at other shows in the future. By the way, Shrinky Dinks has its own website (www.shrinkydinks.com) where you can not only order all kinds of Shrinky Dinks (I’m amazed at the number of Shrinky Dinks variations that site has) but it also offers free Shrinky Dinks patterns to download.

5. Any success stories you’d care to share?

I find that my best outdoor street festival sales come when the weather is sunny and warm (but not too hot), the humidity is low, and the festival is in a good location. One such example came on the second day of this year’s Greenbelt Green Man Festival because all those factors came into play and there were tons of people milling about. I sold a lot of stuff that day.

6. Inspirations?

For the Barbie fairy dolls I look at back issues of Faerie Magazine because each issue is full of fairy art. I also look at Cicely Mary Barker’s classic “Flower Fairies” book series. Believe it or not, there is actually an official site for these books.

For the jewelry lately I’ve been obsessed with taking something that would be thrown in the garbage can and see if I could make a necklace out of it. For example, I took a wine cork that had a lovely line drawing on it (which was the logo of Vynecrest Winery located in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania), drilled a hole through the middle of it, and strung it on a necklace. Then I took some polymer clay and a rubber stamp and I created grape-shaped large beads and I strung those on the same necklace along with some purple glass beads. My husband and I ended up giving that one to my sister-in-law as a Christmas present.

7. Craft supplies you can’t live without?

My hot glue gun. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish with a hot glue gun.

8. Describe your work area

I live in a small townhouse so I frequently have to work on the dining room table then discipline myself to stop work before mealtimes so I can remove my work items so my husband and I can actually eat meals there. After dinner I get a chance to use the dining room table again until bedtime.

9. Family? Pets? Plants?

I live with a very loving and patient husband with no children or pets. I used to have houseplants but they died. I do grow mints outside in the warm weather.

10. Favorite color or pattern?

My favorite color is red. I love checkerboard patterns, especially the ones that aren’t the usual red and black or black and white color schemes.

11. Have you been a Crafty Bastard before?

Yes. 2007 was my second appearance at the festival.

12. Tell us about other crafters you love and your favorite handmade purchases.

I purchased a couple of hand-made comic zines from Curls-Studio which I thought were entertaining to read. (I purchased them during the DC Counter Culture Festival earlier this year.)

I also have a friend who specializes in making gorgeous fused glass jewelry and she’s been reaping a profit wherever she sells her wares. I’ve purchased so much of her stuff as presents for family and friends. She sells under the name Profusions of Glass and she has recently been branching out into teaching workshops on how to make goodies out of fused glass.

There was also a guy whose name I have since forgotten who made incredibly funky jewelry using keys from old manual typewriters. I found his table at one of the outdoor street festivals in downtown DC and his stuff was amazing. I purchased a set of earrings as a present for my mother last year and she loved them. I’m kicking myself for losing his business card since I’ve completely forgotten his name.

13. What is one thing everyone should know how to do themselves?

How to shop around for the lowest prices of craft supplies. If you’re into fabric, the remainder table of your favorite fabric shop should be your best friend. For other supplies, wait until your favorite craft store has a sale before buying them. Many of the big box retailers like Michael’s and A.C. Moore’s have frequent sales so you won’t have to go through a drought inbetween sales.

Thrift shops, yard sales, and flea markets are also valuable resources for finding cheap craft materials. A vintage t-shirt with a great design in the front but is marred by a stain in the back can be converted into a purse or a giant quilt square. Old bedsheets and blankets can make great cheap fabric resources for making that dream outfit. Look what I was able to do with used Barbie dolls!

In 2001, I adopted Lily, a fat 4-year-old cat who followed me around the shelter, quickly convincing me of her sweetness. She was always a great craft kitty, never messing with my projects, even when they involved string! All those late nights staying up sewing and painting, Lily was there keeping me company. She became an excellent big sister to my dachshund puppy, even cleaning Frankie’s little face. Suddenly food-loving Lily stopped eating and seemed to have a rattle in her lungs. At the vet I got the worst news, Lily was diagnosed with extensive cancer in her lungs. When Dr. K showed me the x-rays I broke down, the mass was so clear. I brought her home with the plan to make Lily comfortable and hoped that she would pass away peacefully in her sleep. Starting Saturday Lily started hiding out in my closet under the shoe rack, which was not a good sign. She had always been such a social cat and was pulling away, she knew it was the end. I felt crazy, constantly checking on Lily, watching my sweet fat cat waste away. For the next few days I didn’t leave her side, horrified that she would die alone if I went out.

At some point I decided to make a cameo pin with Lily’s picture as a tribute to her beauty and life. I found some gorgeous green velvet from my fabric stash that reminded me of her huge luminous eyes. I spray mounted a photo of Lily on the velvet and then added a loose ruffle of black, as a reference to the classic Victorian cameo. Finally I attached two vintage Bakelite blossoms and crystals beads at the centers. There were a few glue marks on the velvet that I couldn’t remove that bothered me but I tried to ignore them.

Crafting the pin gave me something to keep me busy, which I desperately needed. Both the process and the end tribute helped me work through losing my friend. I wore the brooch for the next few days of work, it helped me feel closer to my kitty while I was away. We all have our own ways of remembering our loved ones, often striving to translate our feelings into physical displays. I think that creating a shrine with a pet’s favorite toys can be a step in the healing process. For me crafting the pin was part of my mourning and a way to remember my sweet cat, who deserved a tribute much bigger than I could ever give.

Last night I went to Ikea. As always, I came home with 30% needed stuff and 70% fluff (which is a pretty successful Ikea trip for me). I never really think about buying fabric from Ikea, as I’m usually there on a mission to redecorate my home with weird plastic items that I don’t really need and drink lingonberry juice. But this time, I found myself really liking the choice of fabrics they had for sale. While they don’t have a huge selection, Ikea fabric have bold prints with flowers, weird shapes, and lots of primary colors. I dug through the sale bin and got myself a few yards of nice fabric for crafting, for about $5 total.

The other item I wanted to mention, was the Ikea Fixa… it’s a bi-level dollie that sells for $20.

It can hold up to 60lbs., packs up flat and small and could be extremely helpful at fairs when bringing crafts to and from your car to your booth space. Now, I can’t vouch for the quality of this product, since Ikea has never been the place to find stuff that will last a lifetime… but it’s bright blue and cute, and I’m a sucker for both those things.

I wouldn’t recommend going to Ikea just for the fabric shopping, but next time your there it’s worth a look-see… there might also be some pre-cut fabric for cheap in the AS IS section. Happy Ikea’ing ya’ll.

In the coming weeks, in honor of Earth Day and every day green living, KB the Car-free Crafter will be sharing her secrets to living car-free as a crafter with a busy agenda.

Anyone who has ever applied to Crafty Bastards knows how fierce the competition can be. Last year’s show got 400 applications for 100 spots! That said, don’t be afraid! Ok, be a little afraid, but don’t be so terrified that you don’t try. As a veteran Crafty Bastard, I always get asked for application tips. I decided that it would also be cool to ask former and current Crafty Bastards judges for their thoughts. Lucky for you, I am not going to charge for this advice. Instead, here it is, totally 100% free!

There are two main components to the Crafty Bastards application. Vendor statement (only 300 characters!) and photos of your work. But before we can even get to these things, the first thing that you need to do to get into Crafty is to make something interesting. I can’t stress this enough. If you are new to crafting and think you have a brilliant idea, totally Google it. There might be 10 other people making the same thing and if this is the case, you need to make sure you can put your own spin on it. That said, having a very distinct brand identity is also a really good place to be when you start applying to shows. So, step 1. Know who you are and make something awesome. Easy.

Step 2: Vendor Statement.

If you know who you are and make something awesome, your vendor statement shouldn’t be too difficult. You only have 300 characters to work with, so this is the hard part. Let’s break down my vendor statement from last year:

Tina Seamonster silk screens shirts and cards in small batches at her kitchen table with a Print Gocco. She is inspired by her life as an urban mom of twins in DC. Her designs are mostly about overcoming fears (of zombies, etc!), dealing with stress and living life with humor above all else.

The first thing that I do in my vendor statement is establish my brand identity. This is who I am. Then I immediately tell you what I make and how I make it. One former judge thinks that explaining how you make your items is very important. He says: “One tip that I have is to explain, explain, explain. We received more than a few applications that didn’t really specify the crafter’s role in their work. For instance, if you sell screen-printed shirts, explaining that you draw your own art, burn your own Gocco screens, source your own t-shirts from Africa, and hand mix your own inks from natural pigments is much better than leaving it up to the judges to guess. ‘Cause they just might assume you sent an image to the screen printer and — viola — 2 weeks later 400 shirts show up. And that isn’t gonna win you fans. Explaining why you’re all DIY is good.” Obviously you can’t explain all of that in 300 characters, but you get the point!

So, I explain first who I am, then what I make and how. Next I tell you where I am coming from. This might not matter for everyone, but for me, my crazy lifestyle as a twin mom living in the city is key to what I do, so I mention it. If your crazy lifestyle as a traveling lion tamer is important to your handmade flutes, then let us know! And lastly, I explain the style and subject matter of my work. This is not at all a hard and fast rule to creating the perfect vendor statement. We all have our own style. Maybe your statement will be funny or provocative or memorable in some other way. Just make sure you make every word count!

Step 3: Photos.

The dreaded photos. I hate this part. I truly do. But it is so so important. My first advice is to former Crafty Bastards. Send new photos. Don’t assume that because you got in last year or every year that you can send old photos. I nearly made this mistake a few years ago. Don’t do it! As much as you love or are still selling a million of the same items from last year, do try to show something new. That said, former judge Liz of Trees can say the rest better than I can:

First off, and I can’t stress this enough, submit bright, clear photos of your work! Judges look at hundreds if not thousands of photos when jurying a show. Not only do you want your work to stand out, you don’t want to contribute to their eye strain! You are being judged by your submissions and if the judges can’t see how great your work is because the photos are too dark or too fuzzy, you won’t get into the show. Also, if your work is highly detailed with say 10 different decorative stitches on a skirt, make sure this comes through.

Second, show variety in your work. If you make hand-knit scarves as well as kitten booties and iMac cozies, send in a photo of each so the jurors can see the breadth of your work. Don’t just send in three separate photos of scarves.

Third, I’d recommend showing your work in action. If you make pottery, take a photo of someone enjoying a steaming cup of cocoa in a hand-thrown mug or if you make pillows, take shots of them on a couch or with your cat napping on them. It gives the viewer context.

Fourth, inject your personality and style and vision into your photos. If your craft consists of making fun, irreverent clothing, take photos of people wearing the clothes doing fun, irreverent things! If your artwork is somber or goth or melancholy, take your oil paintings to a cemetery on a cloudy day and stage a photo shoot.

Thanks Liz!

A few more photo tips. If you make shirts for the whole family, I suggest that you show that in your photos. Many indie crafters only make shirts in standard sizes. But if you make stuff for plus sizes, as well, try to convey that in your photos. If you make stuff for babies and kids, too, make sure you have a whole family wearing your gear. You don’t need models, just use your family!

Rather than just taking a photo of your stuff on the kitchen table (dude, I have totally done this before), create a memorable world with your photos. Spooky Daddy did this last year with his army of skull bunnies. He was also bold enough to include himself in one of the photos. This makes sense for him because HE is his brand. Smart move and awesome if you can pull it off.

In the end, you do not need professional photos. All you need is good light, interesting backgrounds and a little imagination.

Hopefully I have made the application process a little less scary. Please leave your own tips or questions in the comments. All questions will be answered! Good luck!

And if this didn’t help at all, you can still check out last year’s vendor gallery if you want to see more photos or read more vendor statements.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at http://www.ilikeseamonsters.com. She is a veteran of all four Crafty Bastards shows. She thinks that unicorns whine too too much.

We are now accepting applications for Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair being held June 28 in Silver Spring, MD. Hurry! Deadline to apply for this show is April 16!

Please read the instructions carefully and have everything ready before you start. Pay particular attention to the payment and booth share instructions.

Payment:Once payment has been made at Paypal, all applicants must click back to the Washington City Paper/Crafty Bastards site to complete the registration process.

Boothsharing: If you want to share your booth, once you have paid your fee you will have the opportunity to send an email to your chosen crafters inviting them to join your table. They will enter their own information and upload their own pictures, so there’s nothing you need beyond their email addresses.

I know, I know, it all sounds so confusing! Perhaps this hypothetical will help:

I am applying and want to share a booth with Tina Seamonster.

1. Get Started: I read the instructions, make sure I have everything ready and click Get Started.

2. Contact Info: I enter my contact info, artist statement, choose my craftegories and hit submit.

3. Images: I upload my three lovely images and continue.

4. Terms & Conditions: I read the terms & conditions carefully, check the box and click submit.

5. Payment: I click the link to make my payment at Paypal, I pay the $10 application fee and look for the orange button on the confirmation page that says “Return to Washington City Paper”:

I see this button. I CLICK THIS BUTTON.

6. Booth Sharing: I enter Tina’s email address, tell her she is rad in the message field and send her the invite.

7. Finished: I’m done! I’ll get an email when Tina completes steps 1-4 of the process.

See, easy! Now get started.

Last year, we didn’t get to post all the Q&As of vendors who participated in the 2007 Crafty Bastards fair, so here they are now!

Loyalty & Blood is the new name for the Brooklyn-based fashion/jewelry line formerly dubbed BANG. The craft line is aptly named, founded on the long-time partnership between Maggie Doyle and David Denosowicz who both studied fine arts in grad school together.

Loyalty & Blood’s darkly themed screenprints score high on recognizability with emblems that are often stark, minimalist and sometimes downright eerie. (Check out the close-up of the T-shirt featuring a page from Picasso’s FBI files! pictured below). Maggie & David also took some time to share some inspiring stories with us about their craft journey. Enjoy!

1. How long have you been making things?

Maggie: As long as I can remember - I favored crayons and cardboard boxes over dolls. David and I both have our BFA and MFA in fine arts. Our BFA is in metalsmithing and for our MFA we focused on sculpture and installations at School of Visual Arts - we moved to NYC in 2002 for grad school and never left!

David: I would hang out in my dad’s woodshop and collect scraps of wood to make objects. My father also does leather tooling as a hobby, so I would fool around with that too. Me and my friends taught ourselves how to silkscreen in high school so we could have cool t-shirts to wear.

2. What is your earliest/favorite crafting memory?

Maggie: My parents have a friend who owned a ceramics store that held classes every weekend. I was the only 7 year old hanging out with retirees, picking out cool molds to paint & stain every Saturday afternoon!

David: I guess making toys out of scrap wood and tooling little leather scraps of stuff.

3. Why do you make things?

Maggie: Once we got out of grad school, we never had enough time to spend in our studio since we had to find day jobs. David was miserable working as a field manager at a high end apartment company and being exhausted at the end of the day. We gave ourselves a goal to apply to Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn in 2006 and came up with a bunch of images to screen on tees and tote bags. We also came up with a line of acrylic jewelry to see how it would do. We were stunned at the response we got at RCF!

4. What sort of things do you make?

Maggie: We design and silkscreen tees, totebags and make jewelry.

David: We are working on ideas for a higher end line of jewelry and looking at Modernist jewelry from the 1950’s and conceptual European jewelry inspiration.

5. Any success stories you’d care to share?

Maggie: If you have an idea, just go for it and make it because you have nothing to lose by trying. You will never be 100% ready. When we started in 2006, we had stuff to sell but hated the fact that we didn’t have a website, a proper logo designed for our name, a cool looking business card, a well designed table display, or name labels/hang tags for our tees and our totebags. Had we waited till we perfected all of it before putting ourselves out there, it probably would have taken another year! You gotta just go with the flow and everything will eventually fall into place!

David: We have been so busy since we started that I was finally able to quit my day job three months after we started our business. Now I get to focus on our business and although I work twice as hard, I love that we don’t have to answer to anyone but to ourselves and each other!

6. Inspirations?

Maggie: History, NYC, antiques, fonts, contemporary art, travel and lots of TV.
David: Post modernism, conceptual art, vikings, and things of an evil nature in a fun way.

7. Craft supplies you can’t live without?

Maggie: masking tape, my drill press and jewelers pliers.
David: black electrical tape, masking tape and black ink.

8. Describe your work area (photos please!)

Maggie & David: Chaos!

9. Family?

Maggie: David & I finally found time to get hitched in October 2006 after 11 years of putting it off. In fact, we did our first Crafty Bastards event in 2006, drove back to NYC the next day to catch a plane to San Antonio, Texas & were married the following weekend! Our families are all in Texas waiting for us to get NYC out of our system, but we are not ready to head back home just yet!

Pets?
Maggie: We have two cats, John Wayne & Tiggy, plus a feral cat colony that live in our backyard - we practice TNR (trap, neuter & release) so that the cats that show up in our backyard do not continue to multiply.

Plants?
Maggie: I dream of a garden in my backyard, but I don’t have a water hose. I have flowers outside in pots and try to remember to water them.

10. Favorite color or pattern?

Maggie: Green and turquoise. I love plaid, stripes and houndstooth patterns.
David: Stripes.

11. Have you been a Crafty Bastard before?

Maggie: Yes - we participated for the first time in 2006 & at the past 2007 event. If you happened to have seen us at Crafty Bastards, we used to call ourselves BANG but decided to change our name at the end of 2007 to LOYALTY & BLOOD. We figured L&B would be a strong enough to not be confused with anyone else out there since it was happening when we called ourselves BANG. As for Crafty Bastards, it is so extremely well organized - the Crafty Crew/volunteers are always so helpful and nice! It is one of our favorite shows to participate in!

12. Tell us about other crafters you love and your favorite handmade purchases.

Jezebel Stationery - Leigh’s awesome silhouette stationery! She has extended her imagery to cool tees and tote bags!
www.ilovejezebel.com
Maryink - We had the pleasure of finally meeting Mary & Chris last year at Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn - they make such beautiful tees! We were so psyched that they did Crafty Bastards for the first time in 2007! www.maryink.com
Sheriff Peanut - cool bibs and baby tees run by one of our favorite craft show buds! All of our friends are having babies & we love to give Sheriff Peanut gear as gifts. Norah was the one who told us about Crafty Bastards when we were new to the indie craft scene!
www.sheriffpeanut.com
Something’s Hiding In Here - Shauna & Stephen’s wood rings and their wood blocks are amazing! We love their cast plaster objects too! We dream of being as organized as they are!

13. Would you like to include a HOW-TO for the blog?

David: I can do a how-to about how to make a vegan cheesy sauce!

14. What is one thing everyone should know how to do themselves?

Maggie: How to iron clothes
David: Change a tire